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Billy Talent
  • Artist

    Billy Talent

  • Album

    Dead Silence

  • Label

    Warner Music Canada

resources

Service Providers' Guide To Digital Music In Canada

Music Canada has developed a guide for businesses seeking to start a digital music service in Canada containing information on market opportunities, Canadian consumer preferences, music licensing, and more.

Canada’s music market is in transition. Every year, more Canadians buy and enjoy music online and on mobile devices.

Canada’s major and leading independent record labels are proactively helping digital music service providers succeed through initiatives such as this guide.

Download a copy of the guide here.

Did you know?

  • Canada is the 6th largest market for recorded music in the world.
  • Canada has been ranked 2nd in the world in internet use (volume of data per capita).
  • 79% of households have internet access.
  • There are 8.1 million smartphone users in Canada.
This is a greenfield opportunity!

CANADIAN MARKET SNAPSHOT

Country Stats

  • Population (Jan. 1, 2011): 34.3 million
  • GDP (2010): $1.65 trillion
  • World Rank of Economy (2010): 10th
  • GDP per Capita (2008): US$43,100
  • Median Age: 41
  • Official Languages: English/French

Canada’s Music Market

  • World Rank (2010) Overall: 6th
  • Physical: 7th
  • Digital: 6th
  • Recorded Music Retail Sales (2010): US$517.9 million
  • Digital Music Retail Sales (2010): US$174.7 million
  • Digital Share of Retail Sales: 34%
  • Digital Sales Growth 2010: 14%
  • Digital Sales Growth 2009: 13%

Canada’s Digital Landscape

  • Internet access (% of households with access to the Web): 79%
  • Households with broadband: 9.5 million
  • Mobile subscriptions (as of Q1 2011): 24.7 million
  • Smartphone users: 8.1 million
  • Portable media player users: 8.0 million
  • World rank in internet use (volume of data per capita): 2
  • Facebook – number of users / world rank: 16.6 million / 12
  • Proportion of online Canadians who visit social networks weekly/daily: 45% / 30%

 

Canadian Music Consumers

Canada’s major and leading independent record labels, in association with Music Canada, commissioned a national survey on Canadians’ relationship to music and their digital music preferences. The research, conducted independently by Environics Research Group in mid-2011, identified valuable market insights. Selected highlights are provided below.
 
 

Canadians’ Relationship to Music

Canadians love music:

About half of Canadians say that “music is important to me” or “music is my life.”

We like variety:

About 70% of music buyers prefer to sample, buying one or two songs or albums from a wide range of artists. The rest prefer to buy all or most albums from a smaller group of favourite artists.

YouTube has emerged as the favourite place to share music:

Almost 40% of Canadians say they share music by emailing links to music videos on YouTube. The younger they are, the more they share. (Note: most survey respondents said they do not share music).

We listen while on the move:

More than a quarter of Canadians listen to music “most often” with in-car stereo systems while almost one-fifth most often use iPods. This compares to home stereo/theatre systems (14%), desktop computers (13%), and laptops (11%).
 
 

Buying Music Online

Younger Canadians are online music buyers:

Two-thirds of consumers 13 to 17 years old, and more than half of 18 to 49-year-olds, say they bought music downloads in the past year.

Canada is a digital greenfield opportunity:

About half of Canadians say they have never purchased downloadable music. Those buying downloads reported spending $54 on average, and purchasing more online year-over-year.

Night time is buying time:

Almost 70% of downloadable music files are purchased in the evening. About one-quarter are bought in the afternoon.
 
 

Streaming Music Preferences

We like digital streaming:

Almost one in five Canadians spent money on digital movie/TV streaming services in the past 12 months, reporting an average spend of $69.

Make it free, please (unless…):

Two-thirds of Canadians want digital streaming music to be free. However, many say they will accept a monthly fee in exchange for more features, such as no ads (more than a third will pay $2.50 per month; 14% will pay $15).

What matters:

After price, Canadians rank the number of ads played as the most important attribute in a streaming music service. Few respondents put a high priority on other attributes such as multi-device usability or being able to play streamed music while not connected to the Internet.

No more contracts:

About three-quarters of Canadians agree that they “don’t need another contract” on top of the mobile, broadband and other contracts they already have, to buy digital music.

 
 

About the Survey

The research was conducted independently by Environics Research Group via a national online survey of 1,180 Canadians aged 13 and older, from June 27 to July 6, 2011.
For more details on the research findings, please contact Music Canada.